Katsumi Kaoru
Description Katsumi Kaoru (勝美薫, Kaoru, Katsumi) is a kunoichi on Team Tsusori from Konohagakure. She is from the Kaoru Clan which has a special Regeneration Jutsu which manipulates chakra to increase healing rate and chakra regeneration. Her best friends are her teammates Hakiro and Higro Yakusumi. She was injured during the exams and she was unable to obtain a higher rank (as did Hakiro). She and Hakiro participated in a later exam (about a year later) and she failed again and Hakiro passed. Her teammates were offered jonin but they refused to accept until Hakiro became a chunin. Even after she became a chunin, they still denied the requests because they wanted to be together. Road to Chūnin As her teammates Hakiro and Higro Yakusumi surpassed her, she became depressed. She thought she would never become a chūnin and that she would be a genin forever. She was going to give up and not partake in the exams anymore when Hakiro and Higro came to her house and told her she couldn't give up. She started to believe in herself more and she forced herself to train with them. Hakiro and Higro went to the Training Field in Konoha and they trained there. Since neither of them knew Water Release, Hakiro decided to teach her Wind Release which she already knew the basics of. Higro would teach her taijutsu. They decided to have Higro teach her first. Higro challenged her to a taijutsu only fight and Higro was evading and countering all her moves. They stopped the match and Higro taught her about openings and diversions. About a week after learning about that, they fought again. This time she did better, but she could barely touch Higro. Higro told her that her taijutsu would eventually get better and that it was good for now. Shortly after they, Tsusori teleported to them notifying them about the upcoming chūnin exams, telling them that it was only a month away. He left right after telling them and they figured they should speed up their training. They then moved on to learning Wind Release techniques. Hakiro figured he should teach her a simple, but effective jutsu. His goal was to teach her Wind Release: Dust Cloud Technique and Wind Release: Wild Tornado Arms. Higro left them to train as he was called to the Hokage's office to go on a mission. Weeks after, Higro came back and the chūnin exams were tomorrow. It was late at night so he just went home. The next day, Hakiro escorted a determined Katsumi to the exams. Higro wasn't around and Katsumi was upset but she tried not to let it bug her. The first round was to successfully eliminate a monster in The Monster Graveyard. She successfully killed a dragon and moved on to the next round. The preliminaries came around and she was matched up with another Konohagakure shinobi who was skilled in Fire Release so she felt discouraged but she knew she would have to use close combat. Higro appeared using Body Flicker Technique right as she was walking down to the stage. As the match started, she used a smoke bomb and threw kunai at her opponent. He avoided it, but he didn't notice it was attached to a string and she pulled it back and it scraped his arm. She then charged at him and jumped, trying to gain momentum with a kick. He grabbed her leg and threw her down. She was down and the examiner nearly called the match to an end. Higro had no emotion and Hakiro was shocked. Then, the examiner smirked. She had used a Shadow Clone, and made a diversion and she used Wind Release: Wild Tornado Arms and blasted the enemy upward and she moved in the air and focused her chakra in her foot and kicked him in the back. He plunged to the ground and she landed. The examiner said: "Katsumi Kaoru is the winner." She smiled and looked up to Hakiro and she was shocked to see Higro standing there watching. She ran up and Higro smiled and congratulated her. Even though he showed no emotion during the match, Higro was shocked on the inside on how bold she had gotten. As they were walking home, Hakiro was to report the Hokage's Mansion. As he go there, the Hokage told him that he needed to go on an S-Rank mission with Tsusori and a few other shinobi. Hakiro told her that he had to leave and she begged him not to. This mission was to protect the village. She let him go and Higro was upset that she was crying and wanted to help her but he couldn't. The next day, he went to the Hokage's office immediately and demanded that Katsumi were to get a new teacher. She had no ninja good enough in Wind Release, so his request was denied. Higro walked to Katsumi's and as he came in he told her "I know this won't be easy, but you're going to have to train on your own. You're the only person good enough to teach yourself now." Even though she didn't believe him, she trusted him and went along with it. She then trained the whole month without any help. Finally, the day she had been waiting for had come. It was time. She had to face her final obstacle to catching up with her teammates. Higro was cheering for her as her turn came up. She approached the stage along with her opponent. Her opponent was Tomomi Watanabe, a ninja with outstanding skill in taijutsu and ninjutsu. He knew 3 different chakra natures (Lightning, Earth, and Water). Katsumi didn't look frightened at all, she had a grin on her face as she approached. As the examiner started the match, she just stood there. The enemy was going for a full on attack. As he was charging, she teleported behind him and threw a shuriken she let her guard down and suddenly he started to weave hand signs fastly and he used Lightning Release: Lightning Storm. He had completely split the ground around her and it had been shifted upward. He then used Earth Style: Earthquake Technique and she had been hurt badly. Finally he was going to finish her off using Water Release: Water Dragon Biting Explosion when she had appeared behind him using Secret Jutsu: Grass Binding Technique and then finishing him off with Wind Release: Vacuum Bullets. He fainted and she won. Everyone spectating was shocked at her skill level. She fell to her knees because of over use of chakra, but she was crying and smiling. Higro came down to her and hugged he tightly and told her "You did this all by yourself." He then escorted her home to rest. She was out cold, and Higro put her chūnin vest on her and left.